Henry David Thoreau Quotations: Observation
Once I was part and parcel of Nature—now I am observant of her.—Journal, 2 April 1852
One who knew how to appropriate the true value of this world would be the poorest man in it. The poor rich man! all he has is what he has bought. What I see is mine.—A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
Revolutions are never sudden. Not one man, nor many men, in a few years or generations, suffice to regulate events and dispose mankind for the revolutionary movement. The hero is but the crowning stone of the pyramid,—the keystone of the arch.—Journal, 27 December 1837
Some men endeavor to live a constrained life, to subject their whole lives to their wills, as he who said he would give a sign if he were conscious after his head was cut off,—but he gave no sign. Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.—Journal, 12 March 1853
That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another's. We see so much only as we possess.—Journal, 22 June 1839
The Artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or nature.—A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
The discoveries which we make abroad are special and particular; those which we make at home are general and significant. The further off, the nearer the surface. The nearer home, the deeper.—Journal, 7 September 1851
The focus of their reflected color is in the atmosphere far on this side. Every such tree becomes a nucleus of red, as it were, where, with the declining sun, that color grows and glows. It is partly borrowed fire, gathering strength from the sun on its way to your eye.—"Autumnal Tints"
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.—Walden
The oldest Egyptian or Hindoo philosopher raised a corner of the veil from the statue of the divinity; and still the trembling robe remains raised, and I gaze upon as fresh a glory as he did, since it was I in him that was then so bold, and it is he in me that now reviews the vision.—Walden
